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WASHINGTON, D.C. -- California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. today called on the nation’s presidential candidates to support the right of states to curb tailpipe greenhouse gas emission to fight global warming.

Brown said the candidates’ support is urgently needed because President Bush and powerful congressional opponents are attempting to block California and 11 other states from carrying out tough new rules to control carbon dioxide and pollutants that cause global warming.

“Global warming is the most important long-term environmental, economic and security issue facing our country and the world,” Brown said.

Brown, in Washington to testify at 9:30 a.m. Eastern time Friday before the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, is urging the candidates to support California and 11 other states. These states have adopted landmark global warming regulations requiring a 30 percent cut in motor vehicle greenhouse gas emissions by 2016. Those regulations, however, cannot be implemented until the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grants what is called a waiver, and EPA has been stalling on California’s waiver request for more than a year.

On Friday, Brown released the letter he sent Thursday to the nation’s major presidential candidates, challenging them to formally join California, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington, in supporting California’s historic greenhouse gas regulations.

The letter, which notes that the public comment period on the waiver request closes June 15, states “Even those who believe the federal government should not act at this time to combat global warming should agree that, under the states rights doctrine, individual states should be allowed to act in an area where they believe the health of their citizens is at stake.”

In scheduled testimony to the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, Brown presented California’s case for stricter and comprehensive rules to control the growing threat of global warming.

Attorney General Brown’s letter to the presidential candidates is attached.